Monday, November 17, 2008

Mommy I color you picture

Ok guys, I need you to put your creative thinking hats on. I'm in the process of trying to find my office, as you all know, and I've run into a little snag. I have stuff. Lots and LOTS of stuff from daycare that is Zack's.

They are continually sending home something he has colored, painted, etc. Now obviously I want to keep the important stuff, like the tile I got for Christmas with his foot print on it. But what in the world do I do with the rest. I feel bad just throwing it away, but I can't see keeping ALL of it.

Should I scan it in? Pick my favorite pieces and just keep those? Some combination of the above?

What did you do, your parents do, your friend down the street do? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

10 comments:

Bird's Eye View Photography said...

I have kept some, scrapbooked some, thrown some away, and took pictures of some.

You pick! Just know that there are going to be ALOT-- from now until he is 18-- of things to keep.

Jessica said...

I saw a really cute suggestion on Oprah.

The parents took creative pictures of all the art work and then made a digital photo album of it so they didn't have to keep it yet it wasn't gone forever.
They also did a creative piece on the wall for the stuff they couldn't part with if you would like me to show you we could do it in your office very inexpensively.

Anonymous said...

They took the words right out of my mouth. Trust me, you have to do something or you will be burried in stuff before you know it. And it doesnt get any easier to part with.

Anonymous said...

I saw a gal scrapbook them by taking pictures of them and shrink the picture down to fit into her scrapbook, I know you said you were going to do some digital scrapbooking, that would be perfect.

BeC

Yo-yo Mama said...

If my son had it his way, he would keep EVERYTHING, even the homework.

I keep the little booklets and some of the single pieces of papers in a plastic tote which is about 18x24 but I take pictures of everything else and then sadly, pitch them. My mom saved everything from when I was a kid and a few years ago when I had to go through it, most of it had become nesting material for mice.

Anonymous said...

With my Stepson, I kept the most important ones and his Dad and I tossed the rest. There are so many things that you get, keeping (or even scanning) all of it can be overwhelming. Don't forget, you'll have report cards and such down the road too!

Aunt Becky said...

I have a Rubbermaid bin that I shove stuff that's worth it in. Worth It does not = everything he brings home.

Anonymous said...

my parents kept for me only about 3 things a year. Like the tile, that's not in the 3 things. I have a couple binders starting when I was young, they'd put the pictures in those sleeves and label the sleeve how old I was and put them in order.

Anonymous said...

If you have family that lives far away (we do) you can send some of it off to grandma and make it her problem. That's a favorite trick of mine.

What we've always done is take a picture of the kids holding their artwork and various projects before we throw it out. It helps cut down on the clutter in a huge way. This is especially helpful if you have a kid who gets upset when any of his stuff gets tossed. Even if the "stuff" in question is the page he used to test which markers worked.

AmyWaWa said...

I ran into the same problem recently. I went searching on the internet for some worthwhile suggestions and I tweaked them to something I could actually commit to. Taking pictures of them so you can scrapbook them is fine if you have the time and patience for that. I don't. I have a preschooler and a 7 yr old, there's tap class, ballet lessons and a husband in a metal band that needs things done.

I bought a couple of scrapbooks that I could directly tape the "art" into. The ones I wanted to keep, anyway. These books come with "construction paper" pages. It's what my mom did for me and an easy way to look back at what your child did.

I also have my hallway dedicated to the art of both of the kids before it goes into the book. Just pick up some frames at the Goodwill, Salvation Army or Dollar store. Take out the back and the glass and nail the frame on the wall so you only have a frame hanging up there. Then you can tape the artwork in the center of the frame (you're actually taping it to the wall) and the kids get to show off their latest school art and then you can take it down, put it in the book and put something new in it's place. I acutally use poster tack to put the pieces in the frames, then the tack usually just stays there after I take it down and then I hang up the latest and greatest.

For me this makes it easy because I'm definately the type to just throw it in a pile with the intention of actually doing something with it. But then I don't.